Story I'm Just Me

Freebirde

Senior Member
Part 1

"Who am I and how did I survive?" I'm just me. Oh, what do people call me? Most people called me 'Handy', but that's not my birth name. Outside of my family, I don't think many people knew my birth name. People who didn't like me or I wouldn't work for called me 'Trog', but that was their problem, not mine.

My home and land was paid for and I didn't have a lot of needs. I did odd jobs, sold plants from my greenhouse, and sold compost. I did some auto salvage work, but it was getting expensive to dispose of used oil and other fluids, so I didn't do much of that any more. I did support work for different groups of cavers, kind of a underground Sherpa. I agreed to help a new to the area caver with his first group. I should have known trouble was coming when I saw his supplies to be packed in. No extra food or water, but a case of beer and a case of energy drinks. What you do on the surface is your business, but a cave is no place to be drinking. I told him that if he wanted the beer, he would have to pack it in himself, I wasn't. He wasn't happy, but it stayed.

We got to a tube that was a long dangerous rappel. I took him aside and told him of an easier and safer way to the bottom. His response was "Who do you think you are to tell me what to do, you big dumb troglodyte? This is what they wanted and paid for."

At that I went and unloaded their supplies from my sledge and announced I was quitting, anyone that wanted to return could come with me. They look at the pile of supplies and tried to talk me into staying, but I have a bit of a stubborn streak. I knew if I stayed there would be trouble between the leader and me.

Nobody came out with me and they were not happy with carrying their own supplies. They really weren't cavers, they were adrenalin junkies that went into caves. When I came out early I told the cave owner we had a disagreement, but when they came out they were still not happy, especially since the cave owner knew what they carried in and what they brought out. He made them go back and get their trash. That is when some started calling me 'Trog'. It didn't hurt me any and it didn't do them any good, in fact when any of the 'trog'ers needed help I was always busy. One of the local kids called me trog but I didn't respond in any way, later that week his father asked me to help put in irrigation in his orchard. I told him I was busy and besides I didn't think his son wanted a trog around. The next day the son was carrying a sign around town saying "I'm sorry for calling Mr. Handy Trog". I wasn't busy any more and a better irrigation system got put in than what he planned. I did odd jobs around, such as helping the local vet., Dr. Brown, when he had a heavy load on one of his rounds or needed help caring for for the kennel or stable. He treated me well, paid me well, and Mrs. Brown baked some of the best cookies around.

Now, "How did I survive?" I was working support for local group leader and five mixed skill level cavers. All of them had rappelled down a easy fifty foot tube and I was getting ready to lower the sledge and the rest of the supplies for our four day trip. Suddenly there was a single hard shock that knocked me off my feet. The tube was blocked and so was the way we came in. There was a new opening to a cave I didn't know. I knew if any of them survived, they could not get back here from there. I reloaded the sledge and started to explore the new caves. I had most the food and water for seven people for three days plus the safety margin. I was hoping to meet the others. When I got tired, I stopped to rest and eat something, when I started to make mistakes I would stop and sleep a while. I marked my route as I went in case someone was following me or when I had to go back and take another route. It took me most of two weeks to find my way back to the surface, through a new opening that no one knew about.

I walked back to the cave opening expecting to meet the rescue crew. No one was there and everyone's cars were still there. I wrote some notes and left. I decided to stop by my place before driving into town. There was nothing on the radio, I was hopeing the radio in my truck was broke.

All the automatic feeders were empty and the watering tank was low. I started to refill the tank and all the feeders. The goats had plenty of pasture and the chickens had cleaned out their pen, but were alright except for being hungry. I lost all my rabbits. After caring for the animals, I went to fix me a hot meal and check the news. No TV or local radio, but there was news on the shortwave.
You know what happened as well as I do if not better, but here is what I learned then and later. He was a bad combination, rich, egocentric, and paranoid. One of his researchers developed a directional, controlled frequency, electro magnetic pulse (EMP) generator. He was looking for a pest control device that did not affect electronics. He succeeded, but found a frequency that stopped human brain wave activity. The billionaire, I won't even say his name, directed his researcher to continue his work and he would turn it over to developers. He took it to his satellite building division.

They scaled the transmitter up and launched it, power source, and control in five satellites in polar orbit. While this was going on he built an underground headquarters. It was equipped and stocked for him and his staff. When all was ready he gathered his staff, mostly young women, and had the satellites join together. Once started it was completely automatic. When he announced they were going to be the beginnings of the new human race they rebelled.

Some tried to get the warning out, some went to get their families into the shelter, and some chained the billionaire the the fence around the headquarters. It had already crossed the east coast of America and crossed the pole to Russia. The only survivors in the beamed areas were underground, in basements of large building, or in hardened sites. Over 80% of the population was killed before an especially hardened warship launched a satellite killer missile.

They also killed several offensive satellites, including the one that struck the nearby army base with a kinetic energy weapon. That was the single shock that hit while I was in the cave. Some may have been manually activated and others may have been automatically activated by the attack. That is something we may never know.

Discretely arming myself, long guns in the truck and pistols under my jacket, I started back into town. Stopping at each home as I went, if I found bodies of the in the home I would open the pens and gates, but putting down any pigs, dogs or house cats to keep them from going feral. Livestock that were in pastures were in the best shape, because we had some rain while I was in the cave, but livestock in pens were mostly dead or in such bad shape they had to be put down. I ran out of ammo for my pistols and had to borrow some from empty homes.

It was dark when I made it into town. There were a few houses with lights on in town, but they were on timers or were on when the attack came. Discouraged and hungry I went to the family market to get something to eat and think. I didn't stay long, the bodies of the people that were in there were not disturbed. There was a stove and couch in Dr. Brown's clinic and I had a key. Dr. Brown would have been on his rounds and no one would have been there. All the cages had to be emptied and the horses in the paddock needed to be fed, they are now in my pasture. It was a good thing I had installed the same watering system there as I had at home.

While dinner was heating I sat down to make a list of things that I needed to do. First was to search for other local survivors. Check the other caves and see if anyone else made it out. Go to George's house. When I helped George install his antenna tower and wind turbin, he taught me to use his short wave radio. After that go to the local AM/FM radio station to try to get a message out to any left alive.

The next morning I drove down the levee road to George's and saw the shock wave had left too many cracks that I could see for me to hope to repair them myself. If we get a lot of rain next spring or if any of the local dams fail, the lower part of town will flood. I will have to salvage or move everything I can before then.
 

Freebirde

Senior Member
Part 2


A couple of mornings later I was at my place building a fire in my rocket mass heater to take the chill out of my home before tending the animals and making me some breakfast. I was thinking it was good that it was still cool, but I would need to do something about all the bodies before it gets too warm. It would be hard to bury them fast enough to keep animals from them and it would take a lot of fuel to cremate them, then I looked down at what I was doing. Of course, I could build a six or eight pipe rocket stove crematorium.

I needed more storage space for what I planned to move from the lower part of town. Riding out to the interstate I expected to find find trucks parked at the truck stop, the rest station, and at the weigh station. A couple of empty trailers or a few empty shipping containers should be enough. At the truck stop all the trailers were full, there was one from a grocery chain and another from a big box store that I will get. At the rest stop was a convoy of supplies going to a construction battalion and Marine base, more things to get. At the weight station was three trucks dead-heading with empty trailers and a traveling museum exhibit from Thailand.

I loaded my bike into the back of one of the the empty trailers and drove it back into town. It was fueled but many of the others were idling when the strike came and were out of fuel. Since I had to fuel them and charge some batteries, I spent that day and the next two moving all the trucks I wanted. The convoy I moved to the airport so I wouldn't have everything in one place.

The next week I was spending an evening on the shortwave radio. Most of the broadcast were from the Western Pacific. The EMP satellites did not have enough power reserve to keep up output when it was in the shadow of the earth. Only striking major cities and military centers, it was expected to hit the countryside during daylight later in it's 72 hour run. The satellite was destroyed before it could strike again with full power.

One of the english speaking broadcast was from was from Thailand. He got very excited when I told him about the trucks. He asked if I could be on the same frequency at the same time tomorrow. I hadn't planned on being on the radio again so soon, but I agreed. The next evening he was back and he had his leader with him. The leader immediately started asking what I wanted for the contents of the trucks. I didn't want anything for them, but I didn't want to take the chance on insulting him by saying so. I said I didn't need wealth, what good was it if I couldn't flaunt it. Then he offered to give me people. Keeping my temper in check, I asked him what he meant. He said he had a lot of young widows, whose husbands had been working in the city or on a military base when the strike came and some tourist.

I asked how he was going to bring these people here and pick up the exhibit. He said he had some surviving aircrews and ground crews that were in the countryside during the attack. All the planes that were at the airbases and airports were unharmed. With this I knew he was serious. I said I would not exchange for any people, but would let him have the exhibit and would accept any tourist, widows, and families that wished to come. I knew some of the tourist will want to be dropped off at some of the refueling stops. I said I didn't know him and he didn't know me, so I expected him to take precautions, as will I. I told him there were naval ships in the area and they could be listening in as we speak. "As long as we both act in honor, we both will come out ahead. I will be back on this frequency in one week and will want to speak with the pilot and an english speaking representative of the tourist."

The leader wanted to retain control of the exchange, but didn't know an American tourist was in his outer office when the radio operator told his aid about the contact. By the next day every english speaking tourist in the area that could, were listening to a shortwave radio. Locals that were with them heard, or had it translated, about the exchange. Within days the word of the exchange had spread through the region. Before the week was out the leader had enough people to fill the plane three times over.

George had the frequencies used by military radio operators to contact 'Ham' radio operators to relay messages home before cell phones became common. When I broadcast on one of those using George's call sign, the same as I used with the others, I contacted a radio operator aboard an aircraft carrier that had been in transit in the Indian Ocean during the strike. They had been monitoring the radio call I had made and were concerned. The leader was part tribal leader, part warlord, and part drug lord. I told them I wasn't surprised from what I knew of the area. I would take precautions. They hope the exchange worked out, that would mean fewer people they would have to pick up.

It was a busy week. Along with my day to day work, I had to make sure all the runways were cleared, fill and prepare the fuel trucks, some items from the convoy placed around the airport, and the convoy moved. I put the exhibit trucks in one hanger and prepared another for guest.

When I spoke to the pilot, I described the airport. He said the main runways were long enough. I told him of the destruction of the army base and warned some air force bases along the route could have been hit also. The busier the airports were, the more likely they were to have had planes taking off or landing during the strike, and crashing to block runways. He said he had already considered this and had planned on shorter hops to refueling places and flyover of alternative refueling stops. He confirmed that the leader had some of his people on board to load the exhibit and return with it. I said I presumed they would be armed and asked the pilot to remind them to be careful aboard the plane. There would be a propane powered forklift to help them load. I told the pilot I wouldn't turn on the runway lights, so if it looked like they would arrive at night, to land somewhere and wait out the night. He said he wasn't going to do any night flying except for predawn takeoffs. They had enough food and drinks for two overnight stops and could forage for more at refueling stops.

When I spoke with the tourist representative, I asked about the other passengers. He said some would get out at a stop in Japan and the ones from Mexico and the west coast would get out in a California stop. There will be four widows and families, an English couple and German family that would try and drive to the east coast and try to get home from there. There would be thirty-three people coming to stay at my stop. They had decided as a group to stay together and my town sounded like it would fit their needs. I asked if any of the returnees were there doing business with the leader. He said there was one, but he was getting out in California. I told him to remind the dealer most of the clients for his product had been killed and any that survived should be able to find enough product to last them the rest of their short lives. They shouldn't waste the space or weight to bring any more back.

I was at the airport a day early, but didn't hear the sound of of the airplane until early the next afternoon. I went to my 'hide' where I had my radios, telephones, and controls to the surprises in case things went wrong. I called the pilot and directed him to taxi to the middle hanger where I had put the exhibit. I had parked the mobile stairs and fuel trucks nearby. I asked that the passengers to go to the hanger on the left and wait until after the plane left. To remove the temptation to do something stupid I told them I had put thermite charges on top of the exhibit trucks. I didn't tell them about the charges on the fuel trucks or the claymores along the runway, if things didn't go bad enough to need them, they didn't need to know about them.

A half dozen men went into middle hanger. A few minutes later one came out and waved his gun over his head. The passengers started getting out of the plane, some going to the hanger on the left and some to the cargo door. I radioed the pilot and told him there were some baggage carts in the left hand hanger. As the crew settled down to loading the exhibit, I call the phone in the left hanger. When someone answered the telephone, I asked for the tourist I had spoken with over the radio. I asked how everyone was and if there were any guards. He said they were tired but fine. One of the widows seemed to be having second thought about coming. Some of the guards had came in at first then left. They came back later and got the empty luggage carts. I told him to talk with the widow, this was the last chance to change her mind. I would call back after I talk with the pilot.

The pilot said they would have enough weight margin since they were leaving excess packing material to save room, but there was no room for baggage. When I called back to the hanger with what the pilot said the representative answered. He said the widow was the leader's niece and had a rude awakening when the plane landed and she was no longer anyone important and had to carry her own baggage. Her and her younger child will return, when she started to talk of returning her teenage daughter got her parang from her bag and started sharpening it. When her mother said something about her returning, she stopped, tested the edge, and said she wasn't going back then went back to sharpening. "I think the leader is getting the short end of this deal, except this girl is the probably the only one that could depose the leader." I said they should get out to the plane, I don't know how much longer they were going to be there. The last thing I wanted was the trouble of an unhappy immigrant.
 

Freebirde

Senior Member
Final part of this story

A few minutes later two people pushed a cart out to the plane. I couldn't hear, but it looked like a heated argument. Finally the two people picked up three small bags and went up the stairs into the plane. The ground crew finished refueling the plane and the pilot came out and they all walked around the plane for a pre flight inspection. The pilot and most of the ground crew went into the plane while the remainder moved the fuel trucks, stairs, and carts from around the plane and flight line. The loaders brought out the last few items from the exhibit.

Radioing the pilot, he said they he said they had to secure the last few items and do the final pre flight and were heading west until they were caught by the dark. I told him I would be on the radio the usual times and asked him to let me know they made it back safe. One of the ground crew went to the front of the plane as the rest went to the rear hatch after removing the wheel chocks. After the engines started he began guiding the plane onto the taxiway then to the end of the runway. The guide entered the rear hatch and secured it. I watched the plane disappeared into the west before I came out of my hide.

Several groups of people suddenly got quiet when I entered the hanger. Only then did I think about my appearance. Dressed in jeans, t-shirt, and work boots, I had on two pistols, a belt knife and had a bushsword* slung on my back. With no one around, I hadn't bothered to shave or cut my hair since the strike. The only thing I could think to say was "Welcome!".

The next thing I knew was a woman screaming my name and I was wrap in the tightest hug I had ever experienced. I looked down and saw the top of a head of long straight red hair and said "Amy?". It was George's daughter Amy. "Let's get this organized then you can tell me how you got to where you were." To everyone "I know everyone's tired, so we need to get organized. First we need some translators. Deutschlanders? Sprechen die English?"

"Yes we do."

"Good, because that was most of what German I knew."

"Now we need someone to translate into Thai." At that I heard Amy start speaking in Thai.

I looked at her and she said "It's yours and daddy's fault, when you two watch those Thai comedies I fell in love with the sound of the language."

"First, you with the parang, what do you preferred to be called?"

"Li"

"I need someone to go out and get the luggage cart with Li's things from the tarmac. Next, I need someone that can drive a bus and someone that can drive a truck. I have the hotel cleared out and everyone can stay there until other arrangements can be made."

"I'm called Brother Phil, I drove the bus for our pastorate and church sponsored school."

"I'm Stan, I was in Thailand selling trucks and heavy equipment. If it has more than two wheels and stays on the ground, I can drive it."

"The bus is parked out front and Stan will you come with me to get a truck. Oh, and please don't get too settled into the bus before your baggage gets loaded into the truck."

I took Stan to the right hand hanger that had the trucks from the convoy in and behind it. Stan whistled when he saw all the equipment. "Most of this is the equipment we use to sell."

"Good, because I need help."

"Too change the subject, I lived a few hours drive from here and want to go and see about my family."

"I understand, but let's get everyone settled in and tomorrow we will get you set up to go."

We got a box truck and drove over to the hanger. It didn't take long to load the baggage and get everyone on the bus. I lead the truck from my bike and Amy was in the bus in case we got separated. When we got to the hotel, the baggage was unloaded into the lobby. "Any door with a key card taped to it is available. If there is no card, then either someone else has claimed it or it was occupied when the attack came. While everyone is getting settled in I will be starting to grill some beef steaks by the pool. If there are any vegetarians or vegans, let me know so we can make other arrangements for you. I will need someone to help make some side dishes in the restaurant kitchen. So if there is something I need to know about your food tell it to me now, or wait to later to complain."

The next day I had local maps for everyone and told them that for the first couple of days they could rest and look around, but do not move or claim any property. For the travelers we started to get them prepared. For the ones going to the coast I found a couple of motor homes and for Stan a small all wheel drive car that could maneuver well. We stocked everyone with food, drinks, maps, some basic tools, extra fuel cans, and firearms in case they met some aggressive animals. We all went down to the levee to make sure they could use them safely. While there I showed Stan the cracks in the levee and asked if the equipment we had would be able to repair the levee. He said it should work, but if there are any unseen cracks it might be hard to but a 'band-aid' on them. 'Band-aid', that gave me an idea.

With everyone equipped, I showed them how to siphon fuel from a vehicle and to use a narrow bucket and line to dip fuel from a storage tank. I advised them to avoid bypasses and main roads in cities and larger towns because they would be more likely blocked by accidents.

Amy went to her home. Because they were friends I had buried them in individual graves in their family cemetery. I went with Amy to get my personal items I had left up there when I spent the night on the radio. She said I could leave them. Then she told me how she felt about me. I thought she usually worked with me because we worked well together. I saw how the boys in town were around her and did not allow my thoughts of her to go that way. She had already talked to Bro. Phil and we could be married as soon as we were ready.

"You are being a bit presumptuous."

"Am I wrong?"

"No, I just don't you to get in the habit of deciding things without my knowing."

We then then talked about her trip as part of a medical team to the highlands of Thailand among other things.

Everyone was gathered for another group dinner besides the pool at the hotel when I got everyone's attention to make some announcements. "First a personal announcement, Amy and I will be getting married in a few weeks after everything settles down. Next we will draw numbers to decide the order that the houses are chosen. I will go with each family, couple, or individual to advise, help and register their new homes. When they chose a house they want to look at I will enter and check for problems then they can enter to see if that is the house they want. You may be tempted to get the biggest and fanciest houses, but remember you will be the one that has to heat and care for that house and grounds. Amy's and my houses are already chosen, so don't try to claim them."

I got out a bingo set from the senior center and let each person draw a number and registered their names by the number. With no objections the Thai widows and Li drew first then the families drew in order by size, the individuals drew last.

When a house was chosen I would enter to check for bodies or pets and make sure there were nothing dangerous there. I would gather any keys I could find and use them to unlock all the doors. If the house was chosen, we would go back and get volunteers and equipment to clean and refurbish the houses. Whether it was being helpful, paying back their help, or helping to hurry along the process so that their turn would come, we had no problems getting help. Unwanted furniture, books, personal items were moved to the school to be sorted out later.

Cleaning out the kitchens of spoiled food kept my pigs and compost piles well fed. I didn't take advantage of anyone but I didn't want to see anything wasted, especially items that could not be replaced. After everyone was in a home I opened the furniture stores and let people chose by lot new furniture and appliances. Did I mention I was also the local locksmith, so any home that didn't have keys for them I replaced the locks.

The returnee, Stan, who went home came back with two other survivors. They were part of the housekeeping staff of a large hotel that were doing laundry in the sub-basement went the strike came. He had stopped there for some food and sleep. They had no families and were afraid to leave because of the "zombies". He told them what happened and that there were no "zombies". Then he told them he was on his we home hoping to find his family, but expecting to bury his dead. He said he would stop on his way back in a few days and bring them back here with him if they wanted to come. They didn't want to be left alone, so they went with him.

After he found his family he got a big box truck and a backhoe on a trailer to take home to bury his family. He loaded his personal items in the truck and strapped four barrels of fuel into the back. He put what supplies he though was needed and loaded the rest with books from the local library and bookstores. He went back to the dealership and loaded filters, hoses, oils, manuals, and other things needed by the backhoe and other equipment of the convoy. One of the housekeepers knew how to drive and got the biggest, most tricked out, SUV at the car dealer and followed him. When they got back to the hotel, the housekeepers loaded their personal items and whatever else they wanted into the SUV.

Every now and then I will decide we "need a change in diet" and spend a day or night fishing. I've always tried to follow the fishing and hunting regulations, so I sometimes have to stop and remember there are no longer any regulations except the ones that keep the population healthy.

The only "sport" hunting I do now is to thin out some of the feral hogs, dogs, and cats or if an area starts to get over grazed. I will "meat" hunt and harvest some game but mostly wild livestock.

The thirty-four of us, soon to be thirty-five, have been busy since then. Tending to animals, planting and harvesting crops, salvaging homes and businesses, thousand and one things it takes to survive have filled our days. We still made time to get together many evenings. The hotel when we were working in town and my, I should say our, house when we were working crops. To keep what we were doing "legal" we had a referendum consolidating the city and county governments, electing Stan the county Mayor and Bro Phil as Justice of the Peace. Next we had a referendum that passed unanimously declaring all abandoned property to belong to the county, to be used as the county see fit.

By next spring we had the levee repaired when the river started to rise. There was one small leaks so I was glad I had made some 'band-aids'. I had taken some pond liners and cut them to the length of across the top of the levee and down to the normal height of the river. I attached an iron pipe to the lower end of the liners and rolled them up. When the river rose there was one spot that started to leak. We staked one end to the top of the levee at the leak and rolled the liner down the river side of levee. Then we poured river gravel onto it to hold it down and the 'band-aid' sealed the leak.

* http://www.helmforge.com/
 
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